The Crisis in Russia

Background to The Crisis in Russia

In January, 1920 Ransome informed Allen & Unwin that he was writing a new book about Russia. By this time he was living in Reval (Tallin) in Estonia, journeying occasionally into Russia itself, where he had “…collected material for a small book on the economic crisis and the means being taken for dealing with it…” By July he had written it, but his return to Britain with it was delayed by the Russo-Polish peace negotiations in late August. Unwin sent his formal agreement to publish to Ransome in Chelsea in October, after which Ransome returned to Reval, where he corrected his text in December, thus delaying publication until February of the following year.

The Crisis in Russia sold as poorly as its earlier sister volume, Six Weeks in Russia had sold well. The difference seems to be partly due to the publication of large numbers of books about the Soviet Union in the intervening period.